Astrolawn of the Front Range LLC

WATER IS OUR MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE

THE TRUTH ABOUT WATER USE ON LAWNS

An American family of four can use 400 gallons of water per day, and about 30 percent of that is devoted to outdoor uses. More than half of that outdoor water is used for watering lawns and gardens. Nationwide, landscape irrigation is estimated to account for almost one-third of all residential water use, totaling more than 7 billion gallons per day. Other residential outdoor uses include washing automobiles, maintaining swimming pools, and cleaning sidewalks and driveways….. EPA Report

Some experts estimate that more than 50 percent of commercial and residential irrigation water use goes to waste due to evaporation, wind, improper system design, or overwatering. EPA Report

A NASA scientist estimated that turf grass is the single-largest irrigated crop in the United States, three times more than corn. Experts say the environmental benefits of lawns' carbon dioxide intake are not enough to offset the impact of water usage.

Landscaping currently accounts for at least half of all residential water demand

Without new conservation efforts, the amount of water going to outdoor landscaping is predicted to rise by 1.2 million acre feet a year -- enough to serve roughly 4.8 million people –Ca. Report

One report does not suggest that people get rid of lawns altogether, simply that they get rid of grass where they do not need it, for example front yards.

Most of the grasses used in U.S. lawns aren’t native to the area they are grown; many of the species come from the East, Kentucky bluegrass, for example. A lawn isn’t a big deal in the northeast, but when you recreate that same landscape out West, it becomes a major ecological issue because the only way to grow those grasses is with high use of water and nitrogen fertilizer. An individual, quarter-acre lawn isn’t a big ecological influence, but adding up all those quarter-acres for everyone in the country . . . We suspected that the ecological impact could be pretty big.”.. NASA Report

The average person uses fifty gallons of water per day on the following activities:

· Toilet - 19 gallons per day
· Bathing & hygiene - 15 gallons per day
· Laundry - eight gallons per day
· Kitchen - seven gallons per day
· Housekeeping - one gallon per day

To apply an inch of water to 1,000 square feet of lawn or garden requires 620 gallons of water.